And don't forget the 30.6" tires or the 2000 (?) rpm stall speed all go into the "feel" (and I suspect even the Hemi usually starts in 2nd. Be hard to wind fast enough for a 14.6:1 first with 2.2 (? - no specs on torque converter) multiplication without a super light flywheel.

How the new 8 speed transmission is geared makes a big difference. The 8 speed has a granny of a first gear 4.714 then 3.143 - 2.106 - 1.667 - 1.285 - direct - 0.839 - 0.667. The older V6 5 speed had a 3.59 first where the older 6 speed had a 3.00 first.

I suspect that in most driving, the start will be in second gear. The Hemi has enough torque to handle and with the lower differential ratio, the V6 2nd is close to its old first.

My question is what happens when floored ? The old C6 F*rd trans used to start in second and AFAIR had to be manually selected to start in first. Really dredeging my memory now but think there was D2, D1, and L - D2 started in second.

It may be that like the old GM "GR"ade retard gear, it must be selected. There are really a lot of games you can play with sets of planetary gears including concurrant rather than sequential gearing though the "switch pitch" TQ occasionally seen seems to have been replaced by the lockup.